Of the four groups that the Government contacts to support the budgets, today only two are potentially candidates to reach an agreement with Pere Aragonès on this matter. The PSC has ignored the issue in today’s control session in Parliament. An attitude that could be explained if we take into account that it is with the Socialists that the Catalan Executive sees that the agreement is about to be closed. Salvador Illa himself, first secretary of the PSC, admitted on Tuesday that it would be “very difficult” for him to reject the accounts. But the panorama changes with the commons, who this morning have tightened the rope to the maximum by warning the president that “the ball is in his court” and that “until he discards expired projects such as the largest casino in Europe (…) this The country will not have budgets.” Hard Rock, once again a source of contention. Aragonès, for his part, has asked them not to “sacrifice” the budgets for a project that he has acknowledged, on the other hand, does not cause him “enthusiasm.”
“With a Government that is incapable of standing up to projects like the Hard Rock, I already tell you that we will not be there.” It was the spokesperson for En Comú Podem, David Cid, who alerted Aragonès.
Given the invitation of the head of the Government to the commons to shake hands on budgetary matters, Cid has assured that his group is willing to talk about budgets. He has set several objectives for this negotiation: air conditioning the educational centers, free extracurricular activities and talking about the sixth hour; items for primary care and mental health; regulating seasonal rentals, or accelerating investment in renewables. “These are our four priorities: health, education, renewables and housing,” the deputy insisted.
Aragonès has used these four priorities, which he assures he shares, to reply to Cid: “Does it really mean that an issue that has no relation to the budget and that has other mechanisms to configure majorities has to involve the sacrifice of the highest budget?” in the Department of Education throughout history because of the differences that you may have regarding a very specific project, which is not immediate and that has been processed with other majorities, even excluding the group that supports the Government? “Think about it and let’s reach an agreement, please.”
Thus, with this rhetorical question, the president has also recalled that the project can move forward with the current majorities of the Parliament, without even counting on ERC for it. In fact, the PSC and Junts, which total 65 deputies, are in favor of the project, and would only need to have the support of Ciudadanos or the PP for it to go ahead. Hard Rock “is not a project that we embrace with enthusiasm,” added Aragonès.
There is another factor that makes any attempt to paralyze the Hard Rock difficult. The Government spokesperson. Patrícia Plaja, recalled on Tuesday that the Generalitat must rule on the project in Vila-seca, but with the condition that private actors are involved.
The quarrel that the Republican has had with the Commons does not differ much in intensity from the one that has shone with Junts and the CUP, which according to today’s control session in the Parliament. Both, in their interventions, have given signals that are seen more outside than inside the equation.
